Charleston: Nestor Cortes ( 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 K, 0 BB)- Cortes impressed in his Riverdogs debut, throwing 52 of his 69 pitches for strikes. The 21 year old now has a 2.43 ERA and 9.8 K/9 in 119 2/3 professional innings.

Notes

Outfielder Ben Gamel of Scranton Wilkes-Barre earned his first trip to the big leagues on May 5th to replace the injured Alex Rodriguez. Gamel had been hitting .286/.346/.363 in 104 Triple-A PAs on the season. His power is down a tick from his 2015 breakout, but the overall package still looks like a useful major league piece.

33-year-old lefty reliever Phil Coke, who was drafted by the Yankees all the way back in 2002, earned a call to the Bronx on May 6th after CC Sabathia was placed on the 15-day DL with a groin strain. Coke is an eight year MLB veteran who last pitched for New York during the 2008-2009 campaigns.

Leonardo Molina, ranked the organization’s 27th overall prospect according to MLB.com, was promoted to Class-A Charleston on Friday along with lefthanded pitcher Nestor Cortes. The 18-year-old Molina hit .247/.290/.356 in his second go-round in the GCL in 2015 and is considered one of the most athletic players in the organization.

In a corresponding move, Charleston placed Domingo Acevedo, the number seven prospect in the system on MLB.com’s list, on the seven day DL because of an undisclosed lower-body injury. Acevedo has been one of the most impressive Yankees prospects in 2016 thus far, striking out 10 per nine innings while maintaining an excellent 1.4 BB/9. The 22-year-old flame thrower and his 100 mph heater could move fast this season if he manages to get and stay healthy.

Scranton starter Tyler Cloyd is reportedly heading for Tommy John surgery. The 28-year-old saw MLB time for the Phillies from 2012-2013 and was a possible long-man/spot starter option for the Yankees before this news.

Going into Wednesday night, Rob Refsnyder had a 14 game hitting streak and had reached base in 18 straight contests.

Brady Lail, who ranked ninth of BP’s list of top ten Yankees prospects, was promoted to Triple-A Scranton. He made his first start with the RailRiders Saturday, giving up four earned on four hits and three walks in three and 2/3 innings.

The Quote

“It really affected me for parts of the last three years. Finally, that all seems to be behind me. I feel good, having fun and following my routine.”- Trenton outfielder Tyler Austin discussing the wrist injury that has plagued him in recent seasons.

Still just 24, Austin was ranked the number five prospect in the Yankees system by Baseball Prospectus as recently as the 2014 season. He’s batting .272/.384/.424 (.290 TAv) in his first 112 PAs, although it should be noted that this is his fifth consecutive season spending time in Double-A.

The Highlight

Aaron Judge ripped his seventh homer of the season off of Pawtucket’s Brian Johnson, who was ranked 12th among Red Sox prospects by MLB.com coming into the year. Just one day earlier, he hit a game-tying two run shot off of former Phillies starter David Buchanan. Judge currently ranks second in the International league in home runs.